STEPHANOTIS FLORIBUNDA. 
(Free-flowering Stephanotis.) 
Claw. 
PENTANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
ASCLEPIADACE^E. 
Order . 
DIGYNIA. 
Generic Character. — Calyx five-sepalled, shorter 
than the corolla. Corolla salver-shaped ; lobes obliquely 
contorted. Crown of stamens simple, five-leaved ; lobes 
membranaceous, erect, entire. Anthers terminated by 
a membrane ; pollen-masses in pairs, erect, fixed at the 
base. Stigma conical, acute. 
Specific Character.— Plant an evergreen climber., 
Leaves opposite, elliptical, thick, dark green, entire. 
Umbels axillary, many-flowered. Calyx small, five- 
lobed. Corolla with a tube which swells at the base, 
and a limb composed of five ovate, obtuse, spreading 
segments. 
No plant could have more properly been called “ free flowering ” than this 
most enchanting climber, for it bears a large cluster of flowers from the axil of 
every leaf, and these are developed on plants not more than six inches high, while 
there is an almost interminable succession of them. Indeed, there is scarcely any 
of our stove favourites which can compete with it in the profuseness of its blossoms. 
We find, from the Botanical Magazine, that its native country is Madagascar, 
and that Mrs. Lawrence, of Ealing Park, whose celebrated collection is so rich in 
really ornamental plants, had the pleasure of introducing it to England. 
It is next to impossible to overrate its merits ; they are so essentially sterling. 
Besides having a most elegant climbing habit, it bears dark shining foliage of a 
pleasing order, and from the axils of this the delicate, creamy -white blossoms are 
protruded in large umbels. The texture of the flowers being very firm, they last a 
considerable time, and their odour is exceedingly delicious. 
As a plant for training over the roofs of stoves, and especially of Orchidaceous 
houses ; or for growing in a pot, and twining round any kind of trellis ; or for 
keeping in a small state supported by a stake, as an erect shrub, it is almost equally 
interesting. But, though we have said that it flowers abundantly while very 
dwarf, this is only when it is appropriately treated ; as some cultivators can hardly 
get even large specimens to bloom well. 
To ensure an early and continued display of flowers, the young plants should 
be raised from the upper shoots of the specimens that have exhibited high blooming 
